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A raven-haired Fairy Queen of Ireland. One of her eternal duties dictates that she must hold a midnight court every season and hear the pleas of married Irishwomen. The court serves only to determine whether or not husbands are adequately serving their wife’s sexual needs. A judicious yet powerfully sensual blend, a mingling of justice and sexuality: sage, sweet pea, bold pale musk and warm tonka.


Bizarrely, my nose interprets this combination of sweetness and herbs as "mint chocolate-chip ice cream". What?

Either my chemistry is doing weird things to Aeval, or my nose is...

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Imp: Sweet and green. The sweet pea is very strong.

 

Wet: Ack! Sweet pea everywhere!

 

Drydown: The initial sweet pea onslaught has tapered a bit, but it's still sweet and floral.

 

About 30 minutes later: The tonka has started to mute the sweet pea a bit - it's still green and floral but much warmer.

 

1 hour: The sage has shown up, toning things down a bit.

 

2 hours: And, here's the musk. The sweet pea is almost - but not quite - gone.

 

3 hours: Odd. It's mostly sage and musk now, a bit dusty and definitely vegetal but with an undertone. Honestly, it reminds me of a well-stoked compost pile that's really cooking (it doesn't smell like compost, but it's that sort of vegetation + funk thing).

 

8 hours (after I woke up): Sage, like someone left the spice jar open all night.

 

It's an interesting development of scent but I'm not sure when smelling like this would be the appropriate scent? *puts aside to try again at another time*

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Anise may not be listed, but anise is what I smell. Anise and a sweet note that combine to make me smell like a Good & Plenty. Seriously, I put this on and all I can see is pink, white and black. Too bad I can't stand anise.

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Aeval.. Aeval... Aeval.... Why did you have to let me down like that?

 

My 3rd BPAL sniff, sought out for the name, and it was a disappointment. *le sigh* You can't win them all, right?

 

All I smell from Miss Aeval is Coppertone Sunscreen Spray. I'm not sure why this is all I smell, but it is what it is. I will apply it on another day and see if it devlops to anything I'd even think about wearing.

 

*sniff*

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Nothing but sweetpea and musk. Oy. I can't smell the tonka or the sage, which are the reasons why I tried it. This is Way Too Girly for me.

 

ADDED 12/8/08:

 

Octopod:

Sage. Soap. SAGE SAGE SAGE. And then sage is gone and it's just...soap. Soap bubbles. Where is the tonka? I got this for tonka! Damn.

 

Kalirren:

Much more nuanced at first, and then...soap bubbles.

 

OK, this one failed. Too bad. I was hoping for a somewhat less silly version of Mouse's Long and Sad Tale, but instead we got dish soap bubbles everywhere. ::shrug::

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Aeval – In the vial, it smells sweet and slighty floral and with a bit of herbal goodness. Unfortunately, I can’t smell any of the notes on my skin because the instant it touches my skin it turns into soap -- Ivory brand dishsoap, to be precise. And wow does it ever have some serious throw! The whole room smells like I just scrubbed it down with Ivory! I’ve never had a scent turn this soapy and never had a scent turn so soapy so fast. Another friend loves it, so I guess it’s just a bad mix with my skin chemistry.

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In the Imp: Smells dusty at first. Like a dusty attic that had been long shut up.

 

Wet: Warm summer wildflowers with a little powdery old perfume smell in the background. I suppose the flowers is smell is the sweetpea, i'm not liking them much at all. The dusty stuff? Maybe tonka tends to go dusty on me in some blends?

 

Dry: The powder proceeds to get stronger and stronger and the rest of the blend is getting so weak I can barely make it out. I never smelled the sage at all, and I don't get much musk out of it either.

 

Throw: Eh.

 

Overall: Since it seems to only succeed in smelling like an old bottle of powdery old-lady perfume that was long ago forgotten in a dusty attic, I don't think I'll be buying a big bottle.

 

Edited by Galatea

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In the vial: Mmmm, this is warm and sweet!

 

On me: Upon application, this is all sage and sweet pea. As it dries, it warms up. The vanillaish tonka scent adds even more sugary sweetness. This smells really lovely on my skin.

 

Verdict: This is such a pretty scent! I really like it a lot. Keeping my imp for sure.

 

Rating: 4/5

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ok, it's official. i hate, hate, HATE sweet pea. this reminds me a lot of desdemona, which also has sweet pea, and is one of my top 5 all time stinkers.

 

i don't smell a lot of sweet pea in the imp. actually, in the imp this is kind of reminiscent of leanan sidhe, to me, anyway. so i was thinking maybe this would be different. but when i get it on, as usual the sweet pea dwarfs everything else. it's huge, it's powdery, it's overwhelming. disappointing too, because i generally enjoy tonka and sage, but i can't smell any here. i hate that my skin will pick one note to latch on to like this, but something about sweet pea stands out on me to the exclusion of all else. :P this was a frimp with another order, or i never would have tried it. i've learned my lesson that if there is even the slightest *dribble* of sweet pea in a blend, my skin will pull it forward and turn the scent into a murky, powdery, motion sickness inducing nightmare.

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In the vial, this is a cool, piercing scent that is more herbal than anything else, though there is a floral touch beneath it. On my skin this warms up and becomes more rounded and deeper, with a sweet floral of the sweet pea coming through the herby smell of the sage. After a while this is a creamy blend (perhaps the tonka), maybe a little musky, with a touch of floral scent to it.

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What a weird combination. But it's so good! At first all I get is a leetle sweet pea and a lot of yummy sage. As it dries on my skin, though, the tonka peeks out and it's so lovely. Well, potentially so lovely. The sweet pea is turning a little hairsprayish on me . . . yup. Hairspray. Damn it.

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In the Imp: I smell mainly tonka and sweet pea.

 

On the skin: At first I smell sage and sweet pea. I like this. It’s sweet yet herbal. After it’s been on a bit, the tonka comes out and adds a weird component to this scent. This is not working on me at all. It smells vaguely mineral-ish and like a weird type of soap. Wow, the tonka is really strong in this scent. It totally dominates all the other scents.

 

Overall impression: interesting, I liked the beginning. The addition of the tonka to the sweet pea and sage combines strangely to me, and isn’t something I care for.

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let's see, I fairly slathered this one one today so I could get a real feel for it, and my mind was occupied in charting it's progress on my skin, but I didn't take notes. Can I recreate it?

I LOVE this. I love it when it first goes on with it's sweetpea wonder, and the sage is there too, keeping the floral in check. My heart told me I would enjoy sweetpea, although normally I steer clear of florals. The sage provides a slightly bitter edge to it during that first stage. There is something fairly creamy way way down underneath it all, the tonka, maybe, and it is dreamy, it is just what I have been looking for in a floral. But...

 

about an hour after applying this, i thought I was going to have to scrap (well, swap) the imp because the bitter quality turned definitely soapy, and I just wasn't wanting that. I can live without florals, really I can, and if they misbehave even a little, they are history. This made me a little sad, such promise at first. But then...

 

half an hour later, it had mellowed and lost the soapy edge almost entirely, and I think what happened is the tonka (and maybe the musk, couldn't tell) warmed all the way up and balanced the lot.

 

It is so good. I can hardly believe it but I think I may want to wear this regularly. Even when I slathered (at least it felt like a slather to me) it didn't overpower the space, a really important thing in my household with that perfume-sensitive man around.

I could see wearing this a lot in the spring, and in the fall before it gets really cold. And maybe even tomorrow!

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Aevel how I love thee!

 

in the bottle: dusty/floral and sage

 

Wet: sweet pea POPS out at me

 

Dry: smells like a light but springy flower garden

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In the bottle:

Ahhhh!!! The sweet-pea is the strongest note for me straight out of the bottle. I can smell a little bit of dried sage. Very light and a nice compliment to the sweet pea!!! MMMMM!!!!

 

On wet:

Oooooo! This is very nice so far. I am very fussy about floral scents, but this one is light and rich, not heavy and cloying. It smells GOLDEN to me. Not like fiery red, but the warm golden of summer sunlight. I like the sweet-pea very much. I was afraid it wouldn't smell good on me. We'll see how it dries down. I can also smell the first hints now of something else...perhaps it is the spicy vanilla smell coming on that is how I have heard people describe tonka (I have never smelled it alone).

 

Dry:

I can smell what I presume is the tonka now, but the sweet-pea is still the dominant note. Very nice blend. It has a sort of honey sweetness that is quite pleasant (probably the combo of the tonka and sweet-pea). I just got a HUGE compliment from a co-worker (male) friend. He said he likes it better than Kathmandu (the other one I tried today), though that one is also nice. He said the floral in this is realllly great. I would agree. I have to be careful with florals as they often turn very old-lady on me, but this one is OH-SO-NICE! It is so pleasant and gratifying to find a floral that I like. Especially as this is sweet-pea, which is a flower with special meaning for me.

 

After 5 hours:

The tonka is still nice and light, but warm. Honestly, this smells to me just like a sweet-pea flower that is just about to fade totally away. Different sweet-pea cultivars have different scents (but like variations on a theme), but this one smells JUST like the one I had in my garden this summer. So lovely. Thanks! BPAL!

 

Summary:

Definitely a summer scent for me. Very pleasant! After I try some more things, it might end up being one I would like to wear more of.

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In the bottle: Sweet pea and varsol?

 

First on: Oh, it's not varsol, it's a combination of petrol and shoe polish, mmm, sexy, let me tell you.

 

After a bit: Wow, this repugnance just gets stronger by the second.

 

A bit more: This stayed true until I washed it off. Petrol and shoe polish.

 

Not something I would ever let grace my skin again.

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Tested thanks to the GC swap quikslvr arranged!

 

In the imp, Aeval is crisp. On my skin, it's a lovely, soft floral- very together and traditional, and then it takes on a sort of daydreamy tone. It's lovely, and I'm wishing for more sweet pea. However, it's just not my type of floral... but I may be amenable to an imp.

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This oil smells almost entirely of sweet pea. It's way too sweet and way too floral for me, plus it's approaching powdery. This is just not at all something I would wear.

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I got an imp of this as a freebie and it's something I definitely wouldn't have bought on my own, but I love it!

 

Sniffing the bottle:Overwhelmingly sage and musk. Almost didn't want to put it on me.

 

Wet: The sage is still very strong, but the musk dies down a bit and I get a very floral scent. I might be getting a bit of sweet pea, but tonka is depressingly absent.

 

Dry: Even the sage dies down and I'm left with a nice floral scent, meaning the sweet pea has come forward.

 

Later: It's turned into a powdery scent that others complained of. But I like that, very springy. Girly, yet mature and very inviting and pretty. I'll have to save this one for spring and wear it when I'm feeling girly.

 

On a +++ scale, this one gets a +. Meaning I like it, I'll keep it, but I'm not rushing out for a whole bottle.

Edited by CarolynE

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This is actually a rather soft yet refreshing scent, perfect for spring. The sweet pea is very prominant but the musk gives it a softer more full scent. I don't really get the sage note (and I have no idea what tonka smells like...sorry!). It's a fairly girly scent but not as young as Juliet (which also contains the dominant sweet pea).

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Aeval-

 

In Bottle: Oh, very nice...floral, but with a spicy note in the background.

 

Wet: Woo, sudden acetone rush! Wait...I get licorice off this now!

 

Dry: This is really interesting, in a good way. There's a fresh sharp smell to this (no more licorice). I feel very young. The fragrance of a children's room, filled with kiddie records and plastic toys in bright colors. It's too strong to keep sucking up in great sniffs, but the overall effect is nice. I think it's a bit too....hot and sharp to be on my frequent use list, though.

 

(What the heck is tonka? First I've heard of it.)

 

Overall: Interesting.

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In the imp, I smell the sweet pea and something faintly herbal. Very fresh, sweet, and beautiful.

 

On my skin, I smell...plastic! Ack! Get it off! Needless to say, this one isn't going to work for me. Off to swaps it goes.

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